The First Day Of A New Life
by gioalle1
Summary: And Emma knew. She knew that, for the first time in her life, packing was something good, something she wanted.


OUaT is not mine.  
This is something quite short and silly, written as a sequel of another flash fic called Packing (here included, as the first part of the story) I wrote on Tumblr a few months ago. I fell in love with the idea of Emma packing her stuff and moving in with Regina. So, that's the result. (n/a: it contains several changes of povs, but that's just me voluntary shifting them for fun)

* * *

"I think that's the last one…"

Mary Margaret motherly caressed Emma's shoulder after closing the trunk of the old yellow Bug.

"Well, it didn't take much time to pack all my stuff, did it?" Emma gave her mother a reassuring smile, just to ease the tension of that moment; the short-haired woman wasn't emotionally ready to help her daughter empting her closet, their closet, only after a few months of living together.

But she did it, trying to fight the urge of taking Emma's hand and screaming "What the hell, don't go away" or "Stay here with me and your father"; but all she could do, trying to do it properly, was smiling and helping her beloved daughter, her thirty-year-old beloved daughter, to finally find an happy ending.

Even if that meant helping her packing her five boxes on a cold and windy winter day.

"I won't live that far, you know?" said Emma, sarcastically.

"I know dear. And I know it's the right thing to do"

Mary Margaret believed in what she had just said. And Emma knew it was true. She knew that, for the first time in her life, packing was something good, something she wanted.

This time, it didn't mean going away, losing a home or a foster family, changing habits and faces all around her.

Eventually, it meant home.

It meant family.

And, more than everything, it meant Regina.

She had always been scared by that huge white mansion at 108, Mifflin Street.

That was the first place she had visited in Storybrooke, the night she took Henry back home.

That was the place she was when she had fought with Regina over Henry or to invite Regina to join their little dinner at Granny's after her adventure in the Enchanted Forest.

And now.

That place was once more there, in front of her.

Huge, elegant and breathless.

In one of Emma's pockets, the key of her Bug, parked just outside the house; in the other, another single key.

While the key of her car was cold, just like the freezing air of Storybrooke, that new key in her left pocket was warm between Emma's trembling fingers, protecting it as the most precious object of the world.

She wasn't still supposed to use it, simply because someone was already waiting for her at the door, which was open despite the cold winter wind blowing that day.

When Emma knew she was ready, she started to walk towards that white door, towards Regina, who looked a little severe and nervous; when the two eventually got closer, Regina timidly smiled.

"Everything's in the car". The proximity allowed the blonde to realize that Regina wasn't actually nervous; she was scared.

Scared that Emma might change idea.

"Are you ready?" Regina asked with a fake calm tone.

Emma couldn't emit a single sound, but the way she nodded her head allowed Regina to take a deep breath and eventually relax.

Emma really wanted to be there.

Emma really wanted to live with her and share that huge, empty house.

Once that every suitcase had been taken out of the yellow car and carried to the living room, the atmosphere changed.

Henry had joined them and helped to carry Emma's belongings upstairs: her mother really had an impressive number of coats and jackets.

But it was when he spotted the red dress she wore the first night he met her, that his eyes lit up. "I haven't seen you in that dress since that night in Boston…" said the kid, with a low voice, while Regina was out of sight.

Henry couldn't stop smiling and helping his two mothers, thinking about how lovingly had been to see Regina the day before, trying to make some space in her drawers and walk-in closet for Emma's clothes and belongings. He also found extremely funny the general level of confusion inside Emma's bags and suitcases, despite the potential tentative help from Mary Margaret - yes, he was sure she had helped her packing, sometime earlier that day.

Cosmetics, clothes, socks and even a mug were creating a messy pile also now, on Regina's bed.

The group had spent hours in and out every room, carrying objects or laughing for some Emma's shirts with weird colors or outrageous prints, but it was the time they spent in Regina's bedroom the one they loved the most.

But somehow, Henry's desire to leave them alone, with that still impressive amount of clothes, convinced him to go to his bedroom.

"I've got homework to do" said the kid.

"See, Regina? Your excellent work with our son hasn't been influenced by the presence of the french fries he eats when he's with me…" said Emma with a smirk.

Once Henry was in his room, Emma couldn't avoid, once more, to give a look around and notice how her stuff had already started to mix with Regina's, obtaining that original and colorful confusion created by the proximity of a sophisticated reading lamp and a cheap blue frame with a picture of her, Henry and Regina eating a huge cotton candy.

"Well, I think that right now you may know where to find everything you need, more or less… and feel free to take, move or buy whatever you like, Emma."

Emma could see Regina's path all in once, realizing how events in their life unexpectedly brought her to the point where a statement like this could have been said with the most genuine affection and simplicity; she was used to Regina's private displays of affection, but when the brunette hugged her shyly from behind just to accompany her offer, Emma found herself breathless.

"I know this is huge, Emma. This house…"

"Our home" interrupted Emma, with the only thing she was able to say; she had never been happier, probably, but still she knew she had to find a way to express properly this feeling. But she certainly knew that her life had reached a moment where she could really be happy, satisfied and hopeful for a bright future.

Those had been her desires for her entire life, the things she had prayed for every night, before falling asleep. And now, watching that room and feeling her girlfriend's arms around her, she couldn't believe she had in her hands the pure concept of happy ending.

Fate has strange ways of making plans, but somehow, during their first dinner a few hours later, they all knew that their lives were exactly where they were meant to be.

Especially Henry, considering the irony of a particular red dread Emma was wearing.

The one she wore the first time he saw her.

The one she was wearing now, for the first new day of their lives.

As a family.


End file.
